Converting Ocean Waves For Power

After harvesting solar energy to produce power or electricity, another method of producing electricity is through Kinetic Wave Power or simply Wave Power which is converting ocean waves into electricity.

Source: Hashem Al-Ghaili. Thank you.

Converting ocean waves into electricity has been done many years ago. Wikipedia had an elaborate discussion on this topic. The video is taken from the post of Hashem Al-Ghaili. Here is the discussion about Wave Power from Wikipedia.

The first known patent to use energy from ocean waves dates back to 1799, and was filed in Paris by Girard and his son.[13] An early application of wave power was a device constructed around 1910 by Bochaux-Praceique to light and power his house at Royan, near Bordeaux in France.[14] It appears that this was the first oscillating water-column type of wave-energy device.[15] From 1855 to 1973 there were already 340 patents filed in the UK alone.[13]

Modern scientific pursuit of wave energy was pioneered by Yoshio Masuda‘s experiments in the 1940s.[16] He has tested various concepts of wave-energy devices at sea, with several hundred units used to power navigation lights. Among these was the concept of extracting power from the angular motion at the joints of an articulated raft, which was proposed in the 1950s by Masuda.[17]

Stephen Salter’s 1974 invention became known as Salter’s duck or nodding duck, although it was officially referred to as the Edinburgh Duck. In small scale controlled tests, the Duck’s curved cam-like body can stop 90% of wave motion and can convert 90% of that to electricity giving 81% efficiency.[18]

In the 1980s, as the oil price went down, wave-energy funding was drastically reduced. Nevertheless, a few first-generation prototypes were tested at sea. More recently, following the issue of climate change, there is again a growing interest worldwide for renewable energy, including wave energy.[19]

The world’s first marine energy test facility was established in 2003 to kick start the development of a wave and tidal energy industry in the UK. Based in Orkney, Scotland, the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) has supported the deployment of more wave and tidal energy devices than at any other single site in the world. EMEC provides a variety of test sites in real sea conditions. It’s grid connected wave test site is situated at Billia Croo, on the western edge of the Orkney mainland, and is subject to the full force of the Atlantic Ocean with seas as high as 19 metres recorded at the site. Wave energy developers currently testing at the centre include Aquamarine Power, Pelamis Wave Power, ScottishPower Renewables andWello.[20] (Source: Wikipedia)

Wave power devices are generally categorized by the method used to capture the energy of the waves, by location and by the power take-off system. Locations are shoreline, nearshore and offshore. Types of power take-off include: hydraulic ram,elastomeric hose pump, pump-to-shore, hydroelectric turbine, air turbine,[21] and linear electrical generator. When evaluating wave energy as a technology type, it is important to distinguish between the four most common approaches: point absorber buoys, surface attenuators, oscillating water columns, and overtopping devices. (Source: Wikipedia)

According to Wikipedia, “Wave power is the transport of energy by wind waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water (into reservoirs). A machine able to exploit wave power is generally known as a wave energy converter (WEC).

Wave power is distinct from the diurnal flux of tidal power and the steady gyre of ocean currents. Wave-power generation is not currently a widely employed commercial technology, although there have been attempts to use it since at least 1890.[1] In 2008, the first experimental wave farm was opened in Portugal, at the Aguçadoura Wave Park.[2]“

The worldwide resource of wave energy has been estimated to be greater than 2 TW.[92] Locations with the most potential for wave power include the western seaboard of Europe, the northern coast of the UK, and the Pacific coastlines of North and South America, Southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The north and south temperate zones have the best sites for capturing wave power. The prevailing westerlies in these zones blow strongest in winter. (Source: Wikipedia)

There is a potential impact on the marine environment. Noise pollution, for example, could have negative impact if not monitored, although the noise and visible impact of each design vary greatly.[7] Other biophysical impacts (flora and fauna, sediment regimes and water column structure and flows) of scaling up the technology is being studied.[93] In terms of socio-economic challenges, wave farms can result in the displacement of commercial and recreational fishermen from productive fishing grounds, can change the pattern of beach sand nourishment, and may represent hazards to safe navigation.[94] Waves generate about 2,700 gigawatts of power. Of those 2,700 gigawatts, only about 500 gigawatts can be captured with the current technology.[23] (Source: Wikipedia)

Furthermore, the Wikipedia enumerated the following countries as implementors of the WAVE FARM or implementors of Kinetic Wave Power Projects to generate electricity. These are:

The Aguçadoura Wave Farm was the world’s first wave farm. It was located 5 km (3 mi) offshore near Póvoa de Varzim, north of Porto, Portugal. The farm was designed to use three Pelamis wave energy converters to convert the motion of theocean surface waves into electricity, totalling to 2.25 MW in total installed capacity. The farm first generated electricity in July 2008[95] and was officially opened on September 23, 2008, by the Portuguese Minister of Economy.[96][97] The wave farm was shut down two months after the official opening in November 2008 as a result of the financial collapse of Babcock & Brown due to the global economic crisis. The machines were off-site at this time due to technical problems, and although resolved have not returned to site and were subsequently scrapped in 2011 as the technology had moved on to the P2 variant as supplied to Eon and Scottish Power Renewables.[98] A second phase of the project planned to increase the installed capacity to 21 MW using a further 25 Pelamis machines[99] is in doubt following Babcock’s financial collapse.

A facility known as Wave hub has been constructed off the north coast of Cornwall, England, to facilitate wave energy development. The Wave hub will act as giant extension cable, allowing arrays of wave energy generating devices to be connected to the electricity grid. The Wave hub will initially allow 20 MW of capacity to be connected, with potential expansion to 40 MW. Four device manufacturers have so far expressed interest in connecting to the Wave hub.[101][102] The scientists have calculated that wave energy gathered at Wave Hub will be enough to power up to 7,500 households. The site has the potential to save greenhouse gas emissions of about 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide in the next 25 years.[103]

A CETO wave farm off the coast of Western Australia has been operating to prove commercial viability and, after preliminary environmental approval, underwent further development.[104][105] In early 2015 a $100 million, multi megawatt system was connected to the grid, with all the electricity being bought to power HMAS Stirling naval base. Two fully submerged buoys which are anchored to the seabed, transmit the energy from the ocean swell through hydraulic pressure onshore; to drive a generator for electricity, and also to produce fresh water. As of 2015 a third buoy is planned for installation.[106][107]

Oceanlinx will deploy a commercial scale demonstrator off the coast of South Australia at Port MacDonnell before the end of 2013. This device, the greenWAVE, has a rated electrical capacity of 1MW. This project has been supported by ARENA through the Emerging Renewables Program. The greenWAVE device is a bottom standing gravity structure, that does not require anchoring or seabed preparation and with no moving parts below the surface of the water.[56]

Reedsport, Oregon – a commercial wave park on the west coast of the United States located 2.5 miles offshore near Reedsport, Oregon. The first phase of this project is for ten PB150 PowerBuoys, or 1.5 megawatts.[109][110] The Reedsport wave farm was scheduled for installation spring 2013.[111] In 2013, the project has ground to a halt because of legal and technical problems.[112]